It’s not as if Brad Tavares doesn’t know what to do inside the cage. He knows all the building blocks of MMA, what to do in this or that position, and how to win.

What he didn’t know, he found out, was how he could lose.

Sure, he knew the obvious ways: getting knocked out, submitted or smothered. That’s what he thought Aaron Simpson would do when they met at UFC 132.

So he assumed he’d won when he mostly kept Simpson, a decorated wrestler, from taking him down and grinding him out.

He didn’t.

“I felt like I was stuffing the takedown and that’s enough,” Tavares told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “But it’s not. In the judges’ eyes, if you’re up against the cage, you’re still losing that fight.”

Judges unanimously ruled Tavares the loser, and his undefeated record was no more. He had lost to Court McGee on “The Ultimate Fighter 11,” but that was considered an exhibition bout. This was for real, and it stung.

“I hate feeling that feeling, but you can’t dwell on it too much,” Tavares said.

Staying off the cage sounds like common sense now, but when you’re in the middle of the action, there’s little perspective. That’s where experience comes in, and at 7-1, Tavares is still learning. It’s why he’s in Las Vegas, away from his family while training in factories of talent such as Xtreme Couture.

Now, he knows a place to avoid when he’s in the octagon.

“That’s what took away from that experience,” he said. “It’s not a place to win a fight.”

Tavares (7-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) thinks he knows where to win his next fight, which comes Tuesday against Dongi Yang (10-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at “UFC on FUEL TV 3: Korean Zombie vs. Dustin Poirer.” That information is not public record, of course.

“He doesn’t really do anything in particular that’s tricky or hard to prepare for, but he is overall a very tough guy, very durable,” Tavares said. “From what I see, he likes to bang. So it should make a really good show.”

The pair meets on UFC on FUEL TV 3’s Facebook-streamed preliminary card, which leads into the main card on FUEL TV. The event takes place at Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va.

Tavares tries to take positives from every fight, and he’s happy that he managed to do so well against a guy who, on paper, was supposed to dominate him. But he’s also determined not to change his style inside the octagon.

“If you let that stop you, you’re never going to progress in your career,” he said. “I notice a lot of guys, when they get losses, it changes their whole fighting style. It changes their demeanor in the cage, especially if they get a knockout loss. They’re scared to exchange. I can see why. You lose, you might get cut.

“Of course, I don’t want to lose. But I’m not going to be in there scared that I’m going to lose or fight over-cautiously. I don’t do stupid things; I won’t go in there and swing from my hips or throw 100 punches in the first minute.

“But I’m not going to go in there and be worried. If you go in there with that mindset, you’re not going to put on a good show.”

Instead, he’s going to bring more knowledge into the cage. And this time around, he’s got a better idea of what the judges want, if he wants them involved at all.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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